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Konami Disputes Pro Evolution Soccer Exclusivity
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Sports, Xbox 360,
In a statement today on Konami’s Japanese website, Konami apparently denied the exclusivity of their Pro Evolution Soccer 6 release, declaring:
It has been falsely reported on some websites that KONAMI will release its “Pro Evolution Soccer 6” exclusively for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. These reports are not true. KONAMI is currently proceeding with the production of a multi-platform release of “Pro Evolution Soccer 6” so that as many people as possible can enjoy the game.
Gamespot has dug into the statement a little further, but this has only muddied the waters. The actual text of the statement would seem to be refuting any websites that claim that the game will be exclusive to the Xbox 360, and not “next generation” exclusivity as claimed by Microsoft. However, Gamespot’s source at Konami indicated that the release was aimed at Microsoft’s release specifically. This whole thing very well could come down to a semantic issue, where the marketing-speak that Microsoft chose for their press release conflicted with Konami’s understanding, and should be clarified soon.
Update: 1up was able to talk to the series creator, Shingo Takatsuka, and he stated that the exclusivity window would be through the end of the year only, and that a PS3 version of the game was already in development.
Read More 
| Konami Japan via Gamespot
Gallery: Konami Disputes Pro Evolution Soccer Exclusivity
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Penny Arcade To Offer Comic Adventure Game
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Adventure, Culture, PC,
Just ahead of the start of this year’s Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), Penny Arcade announced that they would be entering a partnership with Hothead Games to release a video game based around the web comic, titled Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. The Penny Arcade characters have already appeared in a collectible card game published by Sabretooth games, so this new endeavor will only push their empire further into the areas that are normally the targets of their satire. The game will be offered as downloadable episodic content, and will be playable on the PC, Mac, and Linux platforms initially, with possible releases on next generation console platforms later. Their partner, Hothead Games, is a new company with a strong pedigree; the company was founded by former employees of Radical Entertainment, Silicon Knights, and EA Black Box.
Read More | Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Gallery: Penny Arcade To Offer Comic Adventure Game
Japanese Gamers Line Up For Final Fantasy III DS
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Nintendo DS, Role Playing Games, Square Enix,
Square Enix’s Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS was just released in Japan, and gamers lined up overnight to grab the limited edition bundle featuring a custom DS Lite and the game. Over 80 gamers were lined up by 3:00 AM, and by the time the store opened, over 150 were in line. The game itself has proved to be an extremely popular pre-order as well, with nearly 500,000 Japanese gamers reserving a copy of the game. The new, 3D-rendered re-make of Final Fantasy III will see its release in the US on November 14.
Read More | Famitsu
Gallery: Japanese Gamers Line Up For Final Fantasy III DS
Bungie’s Keyboard Vs Joystick Grudge Match
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, Culture, PC,
In the first person shooter genre, there have been a number of feuds, but one of the most contentious has to be the battle between keyboard and mouse users versus gamepad users. For the most part, the two groups have had little cross-over; gamepad users play mainly console-based shooters, while keyboard and mouse users favor PC gaming.
There have been some minor skirmishes when the two classes have been able to play online. Because the Dreamcast had its own keyboard and mouse controller available, gamers on that platform could match up online against gamepad players in Quake III Arena. PC users could also hook into the Dreamcast servers, but really, the disadvantages of the console platform made the battlefield uneven. PC gamers on the original Halo could configure a PC gamepad, but lack of standardization again made comparisons somewhat ineffective.
However, when Halo 2 for Windows Vista and its integrated Xbox 360 gamepad support is released, gamers will be able to take on their console brethren over Xbox Live to try and prove which controller will lead to ultimate dominance. In a preview of this battle, Bungie’s latest Humpday event had members of the Halo 2 Vista development team put their mouse and keyboard skills up against the Bungie Community Team’s gamepad talents. Of course, the Bungie Community Team swept all three rounds, and most weren’t very close. While disparities in overall skill levels make this hardly a scientific test, it seems clear that the gamepad isn’t the handicap that mouse and keyboard gamers would have you believe.
Read More | Bungie
Gallery: Bungie’s Keyboard Vs Joystick Grudge Match
Peter Molyneux Talks Evolution Of Combat, Wii At Leipzig
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Fighting, Wii,
Speaking at the Leipzig Games Convention Developer Conference, Peter Molyneux spoke on the need to evolve next generation combat. Both 1up and GamesIndustry.biz have covered separately different aspects of the talk, with 1up focusing on Molyneux’s ideas for advancing combat in the next generation. GamesIndustry.biz focused on the challenges that the Wii controller will present.
Molyneux’s general commentary on combat in video games is that, by and large, the fighting is not realistic. He proposed that developers do away with hit points, life bars, and unrealistic fighting in games. Molyneux held up Tarantino’s Kill Bill as an example of an approach to combat that video games might emulate. This might have been an unfortunate choice, given that this movie isn’t the most realistic portrayal of combat in the film world, but the points he expressed were still somewhat salient. His proposal includes going towards “one button” combat, combining charge attacks with timing and context awareness to alter how the fight progresses. The approach sounds similar to the timer attacks utilized in Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue series. Molyneux didn’t necessarily advocate this as the end-all of combat implementations, but seemed to use this to urge developers to think more creatively when developing new games. This somewhat tied into his remarks about the Wii controller.
When talking about the Wii controller, Molyneux confessed that he is “…an incredibly lazy person when I play games… when I have to get up, it’s painful.” He urged developers to consider the physicality of the control schemes that they were implementing, using the example of a movement-sensing glove that they tested. According to Molyneux, using the glove was “like some sort of Japanese torture that we’d put him through…” It seems Molyneux finds the freedom that the new controller offers exciting, but that excitement has to be tempered and worked with creatively to get the best that the controller brings to the table. Overall, the tone of the talk seemed to advocate developers to seek innovation rather than fall back into older, easier development patterns.
Read More 
| 1up
Read More | GamesIndustry.biz
Gallery: Peter Molyneux Talks Evolution Of Combat, Wii At Leipzig
King Kong Nabs Video Game Awards Nominations
Posted by Thea Davis Categories: Adventure, Culture, Ubisoft, Xbox 360,
The larger than life movie King Kong has some competition from its video game title, Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie. King Kong dominated the nominations for the first Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts (CAEA), garnering nods in 7 of the 12 categories for video games. (In all, there are 37 awards categories.) Ubisoft’s Montreal studios produced the Xbox 360 version of King Kong. Nominations for the CAEA were announced Wednesday. The awards ceremony will be held Sept. 14 at the flashy River Rock Casino, in Montreal. William Shatner will host the ceremony, which will be open to the public.
Read More | Canoe Network
Gallery: King Kong Nabs Video Game Awards Nominations
Does World Of Warcraft’s Success Threaten PC Gaming?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, MMORPG, PC,
In the MMORPG arena, World of Warcraft has become the dominant game title. The game has so completely dwarfed its competition and gained so much popularity that others in the industry are now wondering about the impact this is having on the rest of the industry. With so many subscribers and the amount of time that dedicated fans plan the game, some PC game developers believe that Blizzard’s success comes at the expense of other PC game titles. Wagner James Au at GigaOM investigated this trend to see World of Warcraft could be depressing PC game sales. Au cites Warren Spector with some anecdotal evidence:
“…it does seem logical to assume that a game that’s sucking up as much free time and available capital from so many people is going to cause a drop in game sales… I know several people… who play more WoW and less of everything else these days.”
Still, industry analysts disagree. The NPD Group, which tracks video game sales, indicates that the industry had been slumping prior to the release of World of Warcraft. Another analyst from DFC Intelligence also disagreed. Certainly Microsoft seems to believe that the issues plaguing PC game sales can’t be traced back to Blizzard.
Microsoft is seeking to simplify the process of buying a Windows game. They are also trying to unify the marketing of games for Windows under a single banner, much like console games are today. Mark Rein blames Intel’s integrated chipsets for killing the category, but one could just as easily point to the rapid growth of laptop sales versus desktop sales. While desktop users can pretty easily upgrade their hardware, for most laptop owners, this is next to impossible. While today’s high end laptop plays current games well, two years from now that same laptop may be at the low end of the scale. Frustrations with copy protection technology like Starforce can’t help matters either. There are many potential reasons why PC gaming may be losing marketshare; blaming one of the few successes in the field seems like an odd conclusion to make.
Read More | GigaOM
Gallery: Does World Of Warcraft’s Success Threaten PC Gaming?
Official Playstation Magazine Editor Chooses 360
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
The blog world has been buzzing lately over the decision of one of the editors of the Official Playstation Magazine choosing to buy an Xbox 360 this holiday over the Playstation 3. Dana Jongewaard lists the following reasons: the $600 price tag, the lack of exclusive titles, and the crappy television set that she owns. These are all valid reasons not to choose the Playstation 3. However, this seems like kind of an empty choice. Magazine editors don’t get free consoles for their personal use. I’m sure the rest of the gaming world is shedding a tear over this. The fact remains that as an editor of the official Playstation magazine, that person has access to a Playstation 3 for use during the course of his or her job. Also, if Ms. Jongewaard only has a cheap 21 inch TV, why would she need the $600 version of the Playstation 3? Certainly the old television doesn’t have HDMI inputs, so the $500 version of the console would work just fine. Of course, a $100 price difference just doesn’t have the sympathetic impact that $200 does. A number of gamers are going to work the math and end up choosing the Xbox 360 over the Playstation 3. However, a person who already essentially has unlimited access to a Playstation 3 (even if it isn’t for “personal use”) buying an Xbox 360 doesn’t have much persuasive impact.
Read More | 1up
Gallery: Official Playstation Magazine Editor Chooses 360
Halo Director Talks Movie Adaptation
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Bungie, Culture, First Person Shooters, Xbox, Xbox 360,
Movies based on video games have typically not fared well. Even before Uwe Boll started his video game franchise serial killings, games like Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter, and Wing Commander have been particularly painful releases. Halo fans, though, have some reason to hope. First, the aforementioned Boll is not going to be allowed anywhere near the Halo production, as a director has been chosen. Second, the movie is not being produced as a tax write-off involving complex German tax laws. Third, Peter Jackson has generally been very respectful of the source material of the movies created under his watch. Finally, at least according to an interview conducted by Ain’t It Cool News, director Neill Blomkamp is a fan of the game and is very committed to bringing the Halo universe to life.
There is certainly room in the Halo universe to both be faithful to and expand the backstory, but it is a bit too early to guess at what approach the movie is going to take. Blomkamp does drop some hints as to what he is thinking in the interview, and certainly there is room for hope that the upcoming movie can break the chain of bad video game releases.
Read More | Ain't It Cool News
Gallery: Halo Director Talks Movie Adaptation
4 Million Worldwide Train Their Brain
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Culture, Nintendo DS,
Nintendo announced that worldwide sales of their unique DS title Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day has sold over 4 million units worldwide. According to the press release, 3 million copies have been sold in Japan, 600,000 in the Americas, and 500,000 in Europe. The sales figures in Japan are phenomenal, reaching sales heights that few actual game titles reach. The American and Europe figures are also impressive for a non-game title; while not yet a million seller in the US, Brain Age does seem to be drawing a different demographic to the DS. Finding unique ways to expand their core audience has been a large part of the handheld’s success, and Nintendo will certainly hope to continue this with the launch of the Wii this holiday.
The full press release continues below.
Click to continue reading 4 Million Worldwide Train Their Brain
Gallery: 4 Million Worldwide Train Their Brain
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